Season Underway!

The Good Mongrel's belly is full, my blood vessels are pumping pure turkey gravy and all is right in the universe with hoops popping up all around us and December tournaments coming up soon! Lets take a quick look around, I'll try to throw together a bunch of links to games going on all around us and give some quick notes when I get to see some action myself. Hopefully I can do a couple of updates a week with more during holiday tournament season.

In Indiana the season kicked off with a bang. 4A #1 and defending state champion Bloomington South hosted #2 New Albany whose only loss last year was to the Panthers. Dee Davis (seen in this HT photo) and Matt Carlino had big games as the Panthers held on in the fourth quarter against a New Albany come back attempt. The link provided is to Hugh Kellenberger's excellent local sports blog "Quickhits" which has links to the Bloomington South/New Albany game, Bloomington North's (Julian Boatner etc) victory against Bedford North Lawrence (Alex Pritchet and company), 3A power Edgewood's (Alex Narey 23 pts 10 boards, Levi Garner) victory against South Putnam, and others including North Knox, Eastern Greene, White River Valley, and Brown County. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/quickhits/?p=3392#more-3392

Fishers defeated an excellent Hamilton Southeastern squad. Superstar Hamilton Southeastern guard Gary Harris was extremely impressive in the low scoring game coming up with 13 points and at least five steals. He was 1 of 7 from the line and his outside shot did was not falling and he was a bit wild with the ball at times. Hamilton Southeastern had a couple of solid 6'5 forwards who showed good range as well as a more physical inside presence in 6'6 power forward Brian Gregory. Fishers has an outstanding squad with several very quick undersized guards to go with a heady point guard and a few intriguing college prospects at forward. The brightest future might be 6'9 sophomore forward John Alderman. He is still a work in progress but showed very good shot blocking instincts and solid footwork for a youngster. 6'7 European import whose name escaped me but might have been Illia (#23) is one to watch as well. He's a senior but showed really nice shooting form and solid Euro fundamentals. 6'5 wing forward (#22) Slaughter showed very impressive versatility and surprising athleticism but was in foul trouble. I'll have to catch him again as soon as possible as well as many of the guards for Fishers most notably #3 Stewart who looked great at point with a quick first step, he had at least 13 points.

Kegan Clark went for 21 for Jeffersonville as they rolled to a blowout over Evansville Bosse even without injured star Evan Maschmeyer. http://www.newsandtribune.com/sports/local_story_332235537.html

Joe Hendrickson's Hoopsreport blog in the Sun-Times had the goods on Chicago area hoops during Thanksgiving break. The St Charles East Thanksgiving Tournament was home to some great hoops including a classic between East Arora and Hales Franciscan who won 98-97 in an overtime thriller with 26 ties and lead changes. Former USC commit Ryan Boatright had a big game for East Arora while Hales Franciscan was led by Tennessee State commitment Patrick Miller. Miller was aided by 20+ point games from 6'3 Aaron Armstead (2011) and his brother 6'4 Aaric Armstead (2012). In another barn burner Iowa commitment and Mundelein star Ben Brust scored 50 head to head against Evanston's 5'11 Garret Jones who scored 51 making it the first time two players went for 50 against each other in ISA history. http://blogs.suntimes.com/hoopsreport/2009/11/thanksgiving_leftovers.html

The big effort from Jones was well timed as he picked up offers from Loyola and UW Green Bay who were in the gym to see his heroics. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/jonesuwgb.html

Notre Dame signee and 2010 star Alex Dragecevich was named MVP of the Billy Schnurr tournament at Niles West. http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/dragicevich5.html

Buckeye Prep Report came through with some great recaps from the All-Ohio Slam N Jam Hoop Preview with great reads on Sullinger, Aaron Thomas, Adolphus Washington and others. http://buckeyeprep.blogspot.com/

Vegas/Orlando Day 1 Rundowns

Adidas Super 64 is the easiest to find updates on partly because they have a web site that updates scores. Its great and timely. http://www.adidassuper64.com/Default.aspx The 17U scores even list top scorers. I'll list a few teams of interest to the good Mongrel's range and some scores.

Here is a link to Coach Blevins' notes on the tournament yesterday. http://www.hoopsreport.com/news/eventreports/othernotesfromvegas He has nice reviews on Crishawn Hopkins, Justin Martin, Ryan Boatright, Gelawn Guyn, and other kids of note.

17U: Full Package Elite 68 (Photo above is a Sun Times shot of Dragecevich who scored 22) - KC Cowboys 57; Chicago Elite 77 - Colorado Select White 51; Chicago Elite 66 (Dority 20) - Gameday Basketball 61; Detroit Stars 87 - High Intensity 56; Gym Rats Gold 84 - SoCal All Stars White 71; California Supreme 67 - Gym Rats Black 36; Regis Raiders 70 - Gym Rats Black 50; Net Gain Sports 74 - 2D1 Basketball Academy 52; Derek Smith All Stars West 89 - Rocklin Warriors Blue 45; Pump N Run W - D1E Derek Rose All Stars forfeit; Ohio Basketball Club 76 (Parker 19) - Eric Gordon All Stars 52; Team Philly 65 (Green 18) - Michigan Mustangs 59; Indiana Elite (Fox) 51 (Guyn 16) - D Harris Superstars 40; Utah Pump N Run Red 73 - Derek Smith All Stars 68; Team Access 78 - Indiana Elite Red 47; SoCal All Stars Red 57 - Indiana Elite Red 47; Compton Magic Select 68 -Eric Gordon All Stars 63; Atlanta Celtics 83 (Harrow) - D1E Derrick Rose All Stars 76; Ohio Basketball Club 65 - Houston Select 63;

16U: Michigan Mustings 50 - NorCal All Stars 32; Full Package Elite (Preston) 69 - Mass Rivals 67; Ohio Basketball Club 79 Valley Stars Pump N Run 58; In Elite/ Team Indiana 62 - HP Elite 49; Chicago Elite 53 - Colorado Select 47; In Elite One 77 - 707 Finest 44; Derek Smith All Stars 88 - BCA All Stars 45; Aim High 78 - French Hoops Two 36; IN Elite Garlets 67 - Team Phenom 61; Chicago Elite 69 - Compton Magic 62; Gateway Basketball Club 70 - Gym Rats 32; Gym Rats late game;

15U: Eric Gordon All Stars 62 - DTA Superstars 44; Bay Area Hoosiers W - In Elite South Forfeit; Net Gain Sports 60 (Marcus Shreider 24 pts) - Urban Elite 49; D1E Derek Rose All Stars 54 (C Jones 14) - Bay Area Hoosiers 38; Texas Assault 51 - In Elite / Team In 48 (Smith Rivera 14); Oho BBall Club 65 (Mollock 17) - LA Rockfish 57; Derek Smith All Stars 74 (T Saxton 19) - LA Rockfish 50; D1E All Stars 70 (S Taylor 12) - Arizona Gym Rats Elite 60;

14U: Las Vegas Prospects 69 - Aim High 64; Ohio BBall Club 66 - Bay Area Hoosiers 37; The Ville 89 (Quick 25) - Triple Threat 25; Houston Select 6 - Aim High 51;

Main Event (Vegas): Here are some 17U updates: Illinois Mustangs 57 (Belcaster 20) - Crossover Basketball 41; Air Force Rojo 54 - Illinois Mustangs 40; Dallas Showtime Black 76 - Fieldhouse Elite Team Indiana 52; Yakima Elite 55 -Illinois Old School 44; Terry Porter Elite 78 - SA Scorpions 51; CP3 All Stars 66 - Spiece Select 57 (Sneary 15); Salt Lake Black 66 - Windy City Spartans 64 (Guyton 22); Mac Irvin Fire 69 (Mills 13/12) - Team Texas 61; King James Shooting Stars 81 - California Supreme 72; Oregon Lords 53 - Terre Haute Jammers 47; Miami Tropics 52 - Spiece Indy Heat 50 (Thomas 19); So Nevada Powerhouse 82 - Aim High 81 (Daniels 18);

Here is a Demling update although I think he changed over to different tournaments. He has nice updates on Josh Selby, Griffin McKenzie, and many others. http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/2009/07/las-vegas-day-one.html

Hoops City Updates (Kansas City) tourney got underway in afternoon. Spiece Indy Stars 2012 won 67 - 53. Ron Patterson had 19, Austin Burgett had 17, Kellon Thomas had 10, Hollowell and Rhett Smith had 9. They play again at 11:45 local time on Thursday.

Super Showcase (Orlando) is down to a final 8 at the 15U division. One matchup is the NY Gauchos vs YOMCA (Memphis club). Another squad in the final 8 is the Memphis Bearcats.

16U division: Spiece Select 2011 went 2-0 in pool play. Shining Stars (Mohman) went 0-2 including a 57-55 loss to the Boston Warriors and a 36-33 loss to the Birmingham Storm. Shining Stars (Grote) lost to MB Nation 51-34. They lost later to Team Florida Elite 73-43.


I'm not going to chase all the twitter feeds all day like yesterday afternoon, its just too time consuming with so many tournaments going on. I'll keep track of coaches out being seen and add them to the old "who is your coach watching" post and repost it in a few days when I'm caught up. I'm still good for a few edits, links, and updates though! See yesterday's entry for information on who might be twittering from each event.

Adidas It Takes Five Wrap Up Reports...

Adidas It Takes Five

DC area power Triple Threat blew out Indiana Elite (Fox) in the 17U final of the Adidas It Takes Five. I'll update if any Triple Threat players are being heavily recruited by any area schools, but the tournament had many good performances in the 17U division and saw some players blow up on the national scene in a hurry. Indiana Elite (Fox) is led by a trio of Mount Vernon (Indiana) probable mid-major prospects in Daniel Turner, PJ Hubert, and DeAndre Davis. Turner is a bulldog small forward type who does a little of everything and gets plenty of rug burns along the way. Indiana Elite got big performances from Butler commit Eric Fromm. Louisville and Kentucky prospect Fab Mello drew a lot of attention, but some reports had Indianapolis 2011 prospect Michael Chandler playing him very well and Fromm doing well against him also. Chandler is also committed to Rick Pitino's Louisville program. Ge'lawn Guyn had a huge tournament fresh off his verbal to Charlotte. And Port Washington, Wisconsin's John Gasser had a huge tournament. Here is a link to Wishoops.net's story on him having a big game in front of Gary Williams and Tony Bennet (if i blog, does that mean this is my only allotted lounge singer wise-crack and I blew it?). http://www.wishoops.net/sports/hoopsb/blog/message.aspx?f=123&id=1041970

Elizabethtown, Kentucky big man Curtis Washington of the Derek Smith West All Stars has had quite a week. After the unheralded player earned MVP of the Bolus Blue Chip camp he showed up on high major radars overnight and was offered a scholarship to Kevin O'Niel's USC program and accepted. Its a long way from Elizabethtown to LA, we hope he brings his own Bourbon and Mammoth Cave Twist though. LA is a bit lacking in culture and things to do. I don't think any log cabin monuments to former presidents are likely to be found there as well. Maybe it won't be so bad... Congrats to Washington, this is the kind of nowhere to everywhere story the Mongrel lives for. Michael Johnston spoke with him after he committed. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-9504-Louisville-High-School-Sports-Examiner~y2009m7d8-ETown-big-man-is-heading-out-to-the-Pac-10

The 16U division was won by Washington's pals at the Derek Smith All Stars. Remy Abel and George Fant have had big performances to lead the way (see past entries for direct links or click on Demling blog on left of page). They beat Indiana Elite Orange in a 78-76 decision. Fant and Abel were watched closely by Rick Pitino and Tom Crean and other high major coaches this weekend. Abel is a 6'3 shooting guard from Eastern (Louisville) and Fant is a 6'6 beast of a small forward from Warren Central in Bowling Green which looks to be a favorite to win Kentucky's beautiful and pure single class tournament with the new addition of Chase Behanon from Cincinnati. Indiana Elite was led by Bloomington South teammates Spencer Turner who had 21 points on 3 pointers and Indiana commitment Matt Carlino who had 13 to go with Princeton forward Rontay Chavis' 14 points along with support from Marshall Plumlee, Cody Zeller, and Justin Gant from Terre Haute North. http://www.hoosierhillshoops.com/2009/07/09/adidas-it-takes-5ive-ie-one-orange-takes-second/ Gant is 6'8 and very skilled and underrated and the Mongrel will be featuring him soon. He has an Iowa offer and has had heavy interest from Michigan and some from Purdue and Indiana. Gant can shoot, pass, handle the ball and can get up and down the court very well.

Other standouts in the 16U division include former USC commit Ryan Boatright who had great reviews for Derick Rose Elite, Jeremiah Davis from Indiana Elite/Team Indiana, Dee Davis from Indiana Elite/Team Indiana, and ... Jeremiah is a wonderful high major prospect with great strength and has a high major handle and impressive passing ability. He needs to become a more consistent decision maker and freelance a little less but he does knock it down. Dee Davis (no relation) was MVP of the Indiana state tournament and has a rare feel for the game as a 5'10 point guard. He's good enough that the high majors will miss him. He is a good defender and is a potential spot of infamy on Crean's recruiting record at IU letting Bloomington's own local hero go if he doesn't have similar or better players at the position actually commit to IU in the next couple of classes.

The 15U division was won by Indiana Elite/Team Indiana. Indianapolis North Central's Devontes Smith-Rivera led the way and is considered one of the elite players in the 2012 class nationally. Indiana, Tennessee, and Purdue are early leaders for Rivera with North Carolina joining the fray recently.